Tuesday, 31 January 2012

2012 is shaping up to be a big year for marriage equality, with legislative moves for approval in place in three states, and a ballot initiative in Maine to restore it, repealing Proposition 1 of 2009. Opponents have set up ballot battles in Minnesota and North Carolina, and a possible legislative repeal in New Hampshire (although the Republicans who now control the state legislature appear to be backtracking on repeal - they know that voters are against it, and several of their caucus members have libertarian instincts which leave them opposed to removing rights already granted).

Catholics are in the thick of it, with Gov Chris Christie (NJ) and bishops predictably against, and Governors O'Malley (Maryland) and Gregoire (Washington) declaring in favour, and actively rallying support. I'm not going to get into any detail on any of these: I'll leave that to the extensive commentary available from any number of American news sites and blogs. However, there is one regular claim made by the opponents of marriage, and especially by the NOM (supported primarily by Catholic money and staff) that is simply, demonstrably untrue - and I cannot understand why the Americans have not vigorously pointed this out :

"Thirty-one states have voted on the definition of marriage and every one voted to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman," Brian Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, said in a statement. "Not only will we mount a successful referendum campaign, we will hold every Washington legislator accountable for his or her vote."

Not so fast, Mr Brown. In 2oo6, exactly this was put to voters in Arizona, as Proposition 107:

To preserve and protect marriage in this state, only a union between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage by this state or its political subdivisions and no legal status for unmarried persons shall be created or recognized by this state or its political subdivisions that is similar to that of marriage.

The proposition went down, 48% to 52%.

The reason for the failure was probably overreach, in trying to eliminate not only full marriage equality, but also any recognition for other forms of union. A modified proposition to ban only full marriage passed, two years later. So, yes. Arizona has voted to ban same-sex marriage, but it is not true that every ballot proposal against equality has passed. Brian Brown's bluster notwithstanding, note that prejudice can be defeated at the ballot box, as it was in Arizona in 2006. Although not a vote on full equality but on "near-marriage", NOM also lost in Washington, in a 20o9 referendum that promised everything but the name.

Also worth noting is that his promise to mount a successful campaign, and hold legislators "accountable", is an empty one. NOM, and the other organisations actively opposing equality, are running out of money. Unlike 2008, when they could channel all their resources on California, or 2009, when they spent it all in Maine and Washington, this year they are promising to spend in at least six states. The bulk of their funding comes from a handful of (anonymous) large, out-of-state donors, which this year will be thinly spread. Financial support for equality typically includes a much higher proportion of small, local donors.

NOM and the like should prepare for more defeats this year, at the ballot box, and in state legislatures.

Sunday, 29 January 2012

“When you're a kid growing up, and you think you're gay, you're often teased. But sports can be great for building self-esteem.”

The winner of five Olympic medals, Greg Louganis is the world’s most successful diver and among the most high-profile openly gay athletes.

Raised in San Diego, Louganis scored a perfect 10 in the Junior Olympics in 1971. In 1976, he won an Olympic silver in Montreal.

Louganis graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1983. At the World Championships the following year, Louganis became the first diver to score a perfect 10 at an international meet.

At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Louganis won two gold medals—one each in the springboard and platform events—and was the first to exceed 700 points in the two competitions.For these achievements he received the Sullivan Award, which honors America’s best amateur athlete.

During the springboard qualifying rounds at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Louganis misjudged a jump and struck his head on the diving board. Despite suffering a concussion, he continued diving and won two gold medals. He became the first male diver to win double golds in consecutive Olympics.

In 1993, Louganis starred as a chorus boy who dies of AIDS in the Off Broadway play “Jeffrey.” He came out and disclosed his HIV-positive status at the 1994 Gay Games in New York.

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Revolution is a serious thing, the most serious thing about a revolutionary's life. When one commits oneself to the struggle, it must be for a lifetime.

A revolutionary of unequivocal prowess, Angela Davis has devoted her life to combating racism and sexism. Despite acrimonious attempts by the U.S. government to suppress her political influence, Davis has never wavered in her commitment towards global social justice.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1944, Davis grew up under the oppression of Jim Crow laws. Her family lived in an integrated neighborhood plagued by racial conflict. Bombings by the Ku Klux Klan were so common that the neighborhood was called "Dynamite Hill." From an early age, Davis encountered political activism. Her mother was a civil rights campaigner and a member of the NAACP.

Davis was a precocious child who possessed an acute awareness of her social status as an African-American woman. By the age of fourteen, she had aligned herself with socialist and communist politics, joining the communist youth organization, Advance.

In 1962, Davis landed a full scholarship to Brandeis University, where she studied French and philosophy. In 1969, after receiving her master's degree from the University of California, San Diego and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, Davis began teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA terminated her position based on her involvement in the Communist Party USA. The university eventually reinstated her professorship following enormous pressure from national and international supporters.

In 1970, Davis was charged with conspiracy, kidnapping, and homicide after a shotgun registered in her name was used in a courthouse hostage shooting linked to the Black Panther Party. Fearing for her life, Davis went underground, becoming the third woman on the FBI's Most Wanted List. The Bureau eventually captured her. She was brought to trial in one of the most publicized criminal hearings of the century. In 1972, an all-white jury found Davis not guilty on all charges.

Davis writes and lectures on gender and race issues and remains on the faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a co-founder of Critical Resistance, a national grass-roots organization addressing reform of the "prison-industrial complex."

Popular comedian Ellen DeGeneres was the first openly gay actor to portray a gay character on a leading primetime television program.

"For me, it's that I contributed . . . that I'm on this planet doing some good and making people happy. That's to me the most important thing, that my hour of television is positive and upbeat and an antidote for all the negative stuff going on in life."

In April 1997, Ellen DeGeneres, the star of her own popular sitcom, "Ellen," took a step that was a turning point in her personal life and her career: she outed herself and her character on primetime television. Her coming out led to a storm of media attention, including her photo on the cover of Time Magazine with the tag, "Yep, I'm gay." There was also criticism that the show was now "too gay." For a time after her public declaration, her career suffered from backlash.

DeGeneres returned to the national spotlight when she was chosen to host the Emmy Awards only a few weeks after the September 11 attacks in 2001. At the ceremony she quipped, "We're told to go on living our lives as usual, because to do otherwise is to let the terrorists win, and really, what would upset the Taliban more than a gay woman wearing a suit in front of a room full of Jews?" She was praised for her poise and decorum in emceeing the awards show.

Ellen DeGeneres attended the University of New Orleans and worked at a variety of jobs before she entered stand-up comedy. Her selection by cable channel Showtime as The Funniest Person in America led to opportunities to appear on television. During her first appearance on The Tonight Show, DeGeneres was the first female commedian ever invited to sit on the sofa and visit with Johnny Carson. She has been labeled a "female Seinfeld" for her quirky observational humor.

In 2003 she launched her daytime television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It won 15 Emmy Awards and is the first talk show to win the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show for its first three seasons.

In 2005 DeGeneres was again selected to host the Emmy Awards, this time just three weeks after Hurricane Katrina. She joked, "You know me, any excuse to put on a dress."

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Sometimes I hunt down information, sometimes it finds me. I have been looking up information for a forthcoming post on openly gay or lesbian politicians of ministerial rank - and came across this piece on a politician who is also relevant to another of my interests - gay priests !

Gravel had an eventful youth during which he worked in bars in Montreal's Gay Village; he has been open about the fact that he was a sex-trade worker during that time.[1] He entered the seminary in 1982 and became a priest. Gravel is controversial among the Catholic clergy and laity for his support of abortion and same-sex marriage — two issues officially opposed by the Church. He is currently the priest at St-Joachim de la Plaine Church in La Plaine, Quebec.

He was acclaimed as the Bloc's candidate on October 29, 2006. He received a dispensation from Gilles Lussier, bishop of Joliette, to enter politics. Elected with a large majority in the Bloc stronghold, he became the Bloc critic for seniors' issues.

However, following his opposition to Bill C-484, which would have recognized injury of a fetus during a crime as a separate offence from an injury to the mother, and his support for Dr. Henry Morgentaler receiving the Order of Canada, Gravel was ordered by the Vatican to either give up the priesthood or leave politics, and he finally announced he would not run in the 40th Canadian federal election, saying that the priesthood was his life.[2] He cited as his biggest regret his inability to pass hisprivate member's bill C-490, which aimed to improve seniors' access to guaranteed income supplements.[3]He was removed from a position as a catechist in the Quebec Diocese of Joliette during 2010. Gravel then launched a law suit against the LifeSiteNews (LSN) agency, a project of the Campaign Life Coalition, for $500,000 in damages.[4] In his motion, Gravel suggests that articles on the LSN website caused him to lose this responsibility. Gravel stated that LSN misrepresented him by identifying him as 'pro-abortion'.

Monday, 23 January 2012

In January 1998 Alfredo Ormando, an Italian writer, set himself on fire in St Peter's Square in the heart of the Vatican. Ormando was Catholic, and gay.

In Catholic hagiography, the most famous image of a martyr burned at the stake is that of St Joan of Arc, condemned by the approved theologians of the Church as a heretic and martyred by the church, essentially for her transgression in dressing as a man. In the centuries that followed, thousands more were burnt as sodomites. These were viewed by the church as irredeemable sinners - but later history may come to view them differently. The church now views Joan as a canonized saint. Pope Benedict has explicitly acknowledged the clear lesson - official theologians may be wrong. In years to come, those burnt for sodomy may also come to be more widely recognized as collective martyrs - martyred by the church, for the nature of their love. In his horrifying echo of the centuries - long great persecution of sexual minorities, Alfredo Ormando's suicide after years of attempting to stifle his sexuality in accordance with Vatican rules, may be seen as a unique act of self-martyrdom.

Thursday, 19 January 2012

Law and policy always involve compromise and sometimes being a progressive means taking things one step at a time.

One generation removed from the persecution of gays under the People's Republic of China, Chinese gays encounter different obstacles than their American counterparts. Many Chinese believe that homosexuality exists only in the western world. The absence of legal protection and the threat of social isolation keep most Chinese GLBT individuals in the closet.

GLBT activist and attorney Zhou Dan came out to his friends in 1998 and the media in 2003. A champion of GLBT rights in China, Zhou writes articles on Chinese gay and lesbian Web sites. Although many GLBT Chinese use pseudonyms, Zhou uses his real name. After revealing his sexuality to a Shanghai newspaper in 2003, Zhou appeared across China in newspapers and magazines and on television. Earlier that year, he established the Shanghai Hotline for Sexual Minorities.

In 2004, Zhou attended YaleLawSchool's ChinaLawCenter as a visiting scholar. In 2006, he taught China's first graduate class on homosexuality at FudanUniversity in Shanghai.

Law and policy always involve compromise and sometimes being a progressive means taking things one step at a time.

One generation removed from the persecution of gays under the People's Republic of China, Chinese gays encounter different obstacles than their American counterparts. Many Chinese believe that homosexuality exists only in the western world. The absence of legal protection and the threat of social isolation keep most Chinese GLBT individuals in the closet.

GLBT activist and attorney Zhou Dan came out to his friends in 1998 and the media in 2003. A champion of GLBT rights in China, Zhou writes articles on Chinese gay and lesbian Web sites. Although many GLBT Chinese use pseudonyms, Zhou uses his real name. After revealing his sexuality to a Shanghai newspaper in 2003, Zhou appeared across China in newspapers and magazines and on television. Earlier that year, he established the Shanghai Hotline for Sexual Minorities. Zhou also fights for rights of people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS in China, by advocating a human-rights-based approach to the epidemic. In April 2003 he founded the Shanghai Hotline For Sexual Minorities

In 2004, Zhou attended Yale Law School's China Law Center as a visiting scholar. In 2006, he taught China's first graduate class on homosexuality at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Zhou was profiled in the May 2005 issue of Têtu, a French gay and lesbian magazine, and in the June 27, 2005 issue of TIME Magazine.

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Isn't it quite insulting to heterosexual married couples to reduce their affirming commitment through marriage of their relationship to a simple biological act? If marriage is merely for reproductive purposes, why do they insist on trying to defend it as sacred? Is reproduction more sacred than love? Not in the New Testament it's not! Now I look at it like that, aren't they a load of silly billies?

One of the more offensive aspects of the Vatican teaching on homoerotic relationships is the way in which everything is reduced to "genital acts" (which are dismissed as mere gratuitous self-gratification). As anyone who has lived in a committed, long-term relationship can testify, it's about far more than mere sex. It's also about mutual caring and support, for each other and for family members, aging parents and growing children (even for animals).

It's shared pleasures, at the movies, in music or art, or dining with friends. It's about shared domestic duties, and joint participation in neighbourhood, community (and parish) concerns. Sex itself is far more than mere genital acts: it's also about caresses, hugs, and kisses. Especially as we age, "genital acts" are of diminishing interest.

It hadn't occurred to me, but Jennifer is right. By focussing their opposition to marriage equality so obsessively on the capacity to create (not nurture) children, some Catholic bishops and organisations are similarly reducing heterosexual marriage to a series of mere genital acts. This is not only insulting to the LGBT community, it is also insulting to all loving couples.

Thursday, 12 January 2012

In a post about Pride Parades a few days ago, I noted that these are no longer found only in big cities in Europe and North America. In a neat illustration of this, I have come across this report, which demonstrates that on the same day late last year, competing events were held in two nearby Amazon towns. In Brazil, the town of Benjamin Constant (pop 30 000) had its first gay pride celebration, with a parade following a full day's programme. Just across the border, in Peru, the town of Cavallo Cocha held its annual Country Drag Queen Contest:

Just days before the release last month of the United Nations’ first official report on gay rights the small Amazon town of Benjamin Constant also marked an important milestone—its first gay pride celebration. The Brazilian town, with over 30,000 people from multiple ethnic backgrounds, sits at the triple border with Colombia and Peru, overlooking the junction of the Amazon and Javari rivers. It is a quintessential Amazon town—a colorful market with abundant local fruits and fish, a deprived economy, high migration, and a rather religious community.

Benjamin Constant, like many other Amazon towns, also boasts a thriving gay community. It is a reminder that gay rights are spreading to the furthest corners of the world, and that the Amazon may be more modern than often assumed.

After a full-day LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) forum to discuss education, security, health, and work at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas, over 60 participants then paraded a large rainbow flag through town. Transvestites dancing to the gay anthem “I Will Survive” in sexy glittering outfits opened the march alongside anthropology students, followed by a diverse and lively crowd chanting slogans against homophobia and honking motorbikes. The march brought together soccer players and Indigenous lesbians, math teachers and sex workers, and grandmothers and little children.

Benjamin Constant’s first gay pride celebration generated some confused looks and awkward smiles, but no violence. Instead, the contagious enthusiasm enticed bystanders to join in as the lively group of perhaps a hundred people made their way to the port. Transportation difficulties prevented others from participating, notably a Tikuna Indigenous group from Feijoal, which got stuck on the way upriver. The crowd would have been larger if the event had not conflicted with the annual Country Drag Queen Contest in the old rubber town of Cavallo Cocha, Peru. (Jackie, the town’s recurrent Carnival Queen, had won last year’s contest and expectations were high for a repeat.)

English actor best known for playing the role of Ste Hay in Hollyoaks.

He was listed at number 37 on the DS list of "50 Most Influential Gays", 2011:

It was pretty obvious to most of us that behind young Kieron’s toothy grin and chiseled cheekbones was a man who liked the company of other men. When he came out on This Morning in September 2010, he admitted he’d been inspired to by X Factor’s Joe McElderry and by the next day; he’d received 17,000 emails of support. “I’d never seen anyone my age say it before and then when Joe McElderry (number 41 on our list) came out and said it I thought, ‘Maybe I can be young and come out and say I’m gay and it’s not going to affect my career,’” he recalls. “I’d say he helped me in the fact that he was a similar age to me. Seeing him do it really inspired me.” Kieron’s Hollyoaks character Ste has also since come out and a confident, shirtless Kieron recently graced the cover of Gay Times.

American artist, filmmaker, writer and arts administrator, who described himself as "a total gender mash up (beard, miniskirt, etc.)" and "as a non-passing transperson." Born biologically female, McGarrell identified strongly with androgyny since childhood, and the transgender and queer (or radical queer) community as an adult. He began formally identifying as a male in 2003-04. This gender reassessment was brought about through a limited amount of hormone therapy—not elective surgery however—and was part of an intellectual journey into radical politics which was, in turn, related to the artist's philosophy and output.

McGarrell was born Flora McGarrell to expatriate artist parents in Rome, where his father James McGarrell was the recipient of a Fulbright grant, as well as fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio in Italy. His mother, Ann, is a writer, poet and translator. They moved back to America when Flo was 8 years old and now live in Newbury, Vermont. Flo McGarrell received a B.F.A. in Fibers and an M.A. in Digital Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, 1992–1998. In 1997 he co-founded Little Big Bang, a non-profit arts organization which performed/exhibited for four years in such diverse venues as the Baltimore Museum of Art, the American Visionary Art Museum, as well as local galleries, festivals, and the streets.

After earning his first master's degree he taught video and electronic arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and at the Baltimore School for the Arts. In 2004 he received an M.F.A. in Art and Technology Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where his hybrid skills in sculpture and digital craft were utilized to create inflatable spaces, with light, sound, and video projection. In 2007 he was part of the Roswell Artist in Residence Program where he experimented in sustainable living as sculpture.

Since his youth McGarrell was fascinated with Haiti and Haitian culture and in 2008 he took of the position of director of the art center FOSAJ in Jacmel, a city famed for its art located on the southern coast of Haiti. FOSAJ was founded in 2003 by a wealthy local family and its mission is to revive the international market for locally made art, which collapsed due to decades of political instability. McGarrell served as director of the center until his death and during his tenure he develop a relationship with local artists and the community. Fosaj board member Regine Boucard said of McGarrell that, "Everybody loved him — the artists, the students, the community. And he sort of understood the Haitians."

An early interest in metalsmithing over time, developed into a commitment to installation art with a focus on political concerns and ecology. Most of McGarrell's mature work utilized strongly color-coordinated plastics to create interior/exterior spaces, and living plants to create functioning vegetable gardens, also situated indoors and out. McGarrell's installations were created, as much as feasible, from discarded, recycled materials. His gardens functioned from recycled grey water and included hands-on, instructive material on creating compost at home and the artist's own recipes for meals designed from both a nutritional standpoint and their palatability. This teaching material, as well as most of McGarrell's other writing, was distributed freely, in accordance with the artist's dedication to free copyright, or Creative Commons approach to intellectual property.

McGarrell was the art director of the film, Maggots and Men, an experimental retelling of the story of the 1921 uprising of the Kronstadt sailors in post-revolutionary Russia.

On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, a devastating magnitude 7.0 M earthquake centered approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Port-au-Prince, leveled buildings throughout Haiti, including the "Peace of Mind" Hotel in Jacmel. McGarrell had just dropped off his godfather in Port-au-Prince and had stopped off at the hotel on his way to the FOSAJ center, where he both lived and worked. He was sitting with a visiting friend and fellow artist, Sue Frame, when the earthquake hit and was killed as the building collapsed on top of him. He was apparently killed instantly. Frame ran out at the first tremor; McGarrell hesitated briefly, perhaps concerned for his laptop computer.

Wednesday, 11 January 2012

The elections director in socially conservative Harnett County has resigned, saying she could not in good conscience preside over the upcoming vote on a proposed amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage.

Sherre Toler says her romantic relationship with a man of a different race cemented her belief that the civil rights of couples in love should not be put to a popular vote.

Elections workers are discouraged from expressing personal opinions about issues on the ballot so that they don't feed a perception that those counting the votes are biased. The 51-year-old registered Democrat had the job 11 years.

Toler told The Associated Press her Jan. 3 resignation will enable her to speak out about an issue she is passionate about and work with groups seeking to defeat the May referendum.

Washington's Legislature is on the verge of having enough support to approve gay marriage, with votes continuing to realign in the state Senate.

In contacts with all 49 senators over the past week, The Associated Press found that more lawmakers are now firmly supporting gay marriage than opposing it. That margin currently stands at 22-18, and the measure needs 25 votes to pass the Senate.

Four other Democrats say they are considering whether to support it, including one who is leaning in favor. A pair of Republicans are among those supporting the proposal, and two first-term members of the GOP say they are still discussing the issue with constituents.

The state House is widely expected to have enough support to pass gay marriage, and Gov. Chris Gregoire publicly endorsed gay marriage for the first time last week"

Monday, 9 January 2012

[In his introductory post last week, "A Dissenting Queer View: Cardinal George, Gay Pride ", Advocatus Diaboli expressed essentially two distinct concerns. One was about the overreaction by some gay activists/ gay Catholics to the Cardinal's words, and one was about the nature of gay pride itself. The piece he wrote was not originally intended for publication, but was for my personal consideration. As it was at my request that he posted it for public scrutiny, I promised to provide a full response, here. It was my intention to do this in two posts, for the two different concerns, but Cardinal George's apology last week has largely removed the point of that one. Here is my response to AD, on the issue of gay pride specifically].

AD's concern over Pride Parade appears to spring from the feelings of self-disgust that he experienced on seeing the displays of scantily - clad men, and his fear that he might be secretly “one of them”. Oddly enough, this is precisely the reason why Pride is important. Let's take a closer look at his words:

......every time I saw depictions of scantily clad men parading down the street in some obnoxious display I was filled with self-disgust that I was secretly 'one of them'. I thought that if I accepted who I was that I would immediately become a sex obsessed 'queen' who dressed like a prostitute-fairy. I was not able to accept myself as gay until after I found out that there were 'normal' gay people.

“Every time I saw “depictions” of.... I wonder: is this a response to real gay pride parades, or to the presentation of them in the media?

Yes, of course there are some unusual sights to be seen, expanses of naked or near - naked man-flesh, flamboyant drag queens, and perhaps leather men and their slaves/ boys – but these get into the papers precisely because they are exceptional. In my experience of London Pride, the “freaks” (as some may think of them), are vastly outnumbered by the others: those who are what AD describes as "normal gay people”.

When I think of the mental images that I take away from the London Pride parades I have participated in, I see a few of the extremes that upset AD and others, but I also see far, far more.

At New Scientist, "Zoologger" has a post up on the transsexual abilities of the hawkfish (species Cirrhitichthys falco), which is found off Kuchino-Erabu Island in southern Japan. As the post notes, transitioning in fish occurs in many species - but this one reverses the process. (Even this ability is not unique though - see Joan Roughgarden, "Evolution's Rainbow").

When it comes to selecting mates, hawkfish keep their options open. The flamboyantly coloured reef dwellers start life as females but can transform into males after maturing. Many marine animals do this, but these fickle fish have a rare trick up their fins: they can change back when the situation suits.

Tatsuru Kadota and colleagues from Hiroshima University in Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan, have observed reverse sex changes in wild hawkfish for the first time in the subtropical reefs around Kuchino-Erabu Island in southern Japan.

Hawkfish live in harems, with one dominant male mating with several females. Kadota's team studied 29 hawkfish and found that when it comes to sex change, the size of the harem matters.

If a male hawkfish took on many females, one of the two largest females would change sex and take over half of the harem, mating as a male. Conversely, if that new male hawkfish lost a few females to other harems and was challenged by a larger male, it reverted to mating as a female, instead of wasting precious energy fighting a losing battle. "The ability to undergo bidirectional sex change maximises an individual's reproductive value," Kadota says.

A reader, Mario, has shared a link to a fascinating story about a domestic hen that transitioned to a cockerel, after an injury. I've known about transitioning in fish species for years, but this is the first time I've come across an instance in birds.

Last year, the big news on gay marriage was in New York, where Governor Andrew Cuomo took the lead, and secured passage with the co-operation of three Republican senators. In 2012, that could have an echo in Washington, where Governor Christine Gregoire has given her backing to legislation - and a Republican senator has already announced his support, which could prove crucial, in what could be a close vote in the Senate. Like an increasing number of conservatives, Sen Steve Litzow is supporting marriage equality as a conservative cause, in the name of individual freedom and personal responsibility:

"SOMETIMES it takes just one individual to stand on principle and let others follow. State Sen. Steve Litzow announced he will be the first Republican in the Senate to support gay marriage.

Outstanding. Litzow is a profile in courage, a freshman lawmaker willing to act on conviction.

Litzow of Mercer Island told The Times editorial board he plans to support this historic legislation. His announcement follows last week's decision by Gov. Chris Gregoire to introduce and push a law that affords gay and lesbian couples the same rights and benefits of marriage enjoyed by other couples.

If the legislation is approved — and it should be — Washington would become the seventh state in the country to act on this compelling civil-rights issue.

"I am a traditional Republican," explained Litzow. "When you think about gay marriage, it's the right thing to do and it's very consistent with the tenets of being a Republican — such as individual freedom and personal responsibility."

At New Scientist, "Zoologger" has a post up on the transsexual abilities of the hawkfish (species Cirrhitichthys falco), which is found off Kuchino-Erabu Island in southern Japan. As the post notes, transitioning in fish occurs in many species - but this one reverses the process. (Even this ability is not unique though - see Joan Roughgarden, "Evolution's Rainbow").

When it comes to selecting mates, hawkfish keep their options open. The flamboyantly coloured reef dwellers start life as females but can transform into males after maturing. Many marine animals do this, but these fickle fish have a rare trick up their fins: they can change back when the situation suits.

Tatsuru Kadota and colleagues from Hiroshima University in Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan, have observed reverse sex changes in wild hawkfish for the first time in the subtropical reefs around Kuchino-Erabu Island in southern Japan.

Hawkfish live in harems, with one dominant male mating with several females. Kadota's team studied 29 hawkfish and found that when it comes to sex change, the size of the harem matters.

If a male hawkfish took on many females, one of the two largest females would change sex and take over half of the harem, mating as a male. Conversely, if that new male hawkfish lost a few females to other harems and was challenged by a larger male, it reverted to mating as a female, instead of wasting precious energy fighting a losing battle. "The ability to undergo bidirectional sex change maximises an individual's reproductive value," Kadota says.

Saturday, 7 January 2012

"I had a dream. And a vision. And a lot of passion. I was a rock and roll fan and there was no publication for me."

Jann Wenner changed rock and contemporary music coverage when he launched Rolling Stone magazine. His eye for talent, knack for business and passion for music has kept the magazine on the cutting edge for more than 40 years.

Born in New York City, Wenner was raised in Marin County, California. He began writing about rock in The Daily Californianat the University of California, Berkeley.Frustrated that the genre was not being taken seriously in the media, Wenner left college to start his own magazine.

In November 1967, Rolling Stonewas launched with Wenner as cofounder and publisher. He described it as part magazine and part newspaper, with coverage of music, politics and culture.

Wenner conducted interviews with music icons and prominent politicians, including Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, Mick Jagger, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barack Obama, and John Lennon after the breakup of the Beatles.

Wenner emphasized on the visual content of Rolling Stone, with celebrities photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Mark Seliger and Richard Avedon. Wenner’s publications include Us Weekly and Men’s Journal.

In 2007, the company grossed more than $33 million.

Wenner played himself in the film "Perfect" (1985) and a sports agent in "Jerry Maguire" (1996). He served as executive producer of MTV’s reality show "I’m From Rolling Stone."

In 1967, Wenner married a woman and had three sons. The couple separated in 1995. Wenner and his partner, fashion designer Matt Nye, have one son together.

In 1983, Wenner cofounded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. He received its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. In 1997, he was inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame, making him the youngest honoree.

Sunday, 1 January 2012

"I learned in the civil rights era that nobody gives you anything - you have to fight for it. The same is true of our effort today to bring equality to all Americans."

Jim Hormel is a philanthropist and community leader who was the first openly gay United States Ambassador.

In 1992 when Jim Hormel sought to become a United States Ambassador, he had no idea it would take seven years and a bruising political battle to achieve his goal. Ironically, he had enough votes from both Democrats and Republicans to win confirmation, but three anti-gay Senators repeatedly blocked his nomination from coming to a vote. At the same time, special interests launched a slanderous public campaign against him. The Senate never voted, but President Clinton made Hormel U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg in a 1999 recess appointment.

Following Hormel's appointment, the State Department made major revisions to its regulations, including measures that for the first time allowed gay Foreign Service officers to bring their partners on overseas assignments.

Jim Hormel was born in Austin, Minnesota on January 1, 1933. He graduated from Swarthmore College and now serves on its Board of Managers. He earned a JD degree from the University of Chicago Law School and later served as its Assistant Dean and Dean of Students.

Hormel served as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1995 and to the United Nations General Assembly in 1996. He has also been active in Democratic politics and has served several times as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Hormel sits on the boards of several national and Bay Area (California) political and cultural institutions. He is chairman of Equidex, Inc., a family-run investment firm.

Hormel's philanthropy and activism center on promoting human rights and equality. In 1995, he established the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at the new San Francisco Main Public Library, which houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of GLBTQ literature.

Bibliography:

Rich, Frank, "Journal: All in the Family," The New York Times, April 18, 1998.